Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
This autumn it will be 20 years since one of the most recognizable theaters in the capital moved to its permanent home at 2 Frolov Lane. Six years ago, construction began on the second stage of the building on Myasnitskaya Street, and soon it acquired its now familiar appearance, and the central entrance was located within walking distance from the Chistye Prudy metro station. Kultura Moskvy visited the theater on a tour, during which it learned the specifics of its architecture, the secret of the seats in the large hall, and the role of Anatoly Efros in the life of Alexander Kalyagin.
Anatoly Efros – 100
First of all, we head to the ship’s captain’s bridge – to the office of the artistic director of the Moscow Et Cetera Theatre, People’s Artist of the RSFSR, laureate of the USSR State Prizes Alexander Kalyagin. The film crew had to wait for an audience due to a protracted staff meeting: Monday is a hard day, everyone needs to be heard, valuable instructions given and charged up for the new work week.
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich greets you very warmly, in a homely way, offering tea and smiling softly at questions and curiosity. And there is much to look at: just sitting next to a legend of Soviet theater and cinema is already a great honor, but the office, like a museum, is full of interesting exhibits. There is a globe, and numerous books, statues, a clock, and on the walls are memorable photographs and playbills.
The enchanted gaze stops at a large black-and-white poster of the festival in memory of Anatoly Efros in St. Petersburg, which took place in April 1993. Then a question arises about the teachers and mentors of Alexander Kalyagin, among whom Anatoly Vasilyevich occupies a special place. “This is a long conversation. Because every time I talk about Efros, some kind of wave sincerely rises in me. From smiles to tears, from some visions of his performances to funerals,” the master shares. Alexander Alexandrovich dreamed of playing in the productions of the famous director and was able to realize this cherished desire in two of his performances in the early 1980s on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater: “And what a company we had in “Tartuffe”! Every actor is an entire era. And Stanislav Lyubshin, and Anastasia Vertinskaya, and Nina Gulyaeva, and Yuri Bogatyrev. Everything, everything that is needed.” In those years, another equally famous and honored master served there, whose figure also had a strong influence on the future founder of the Et Cetera theater – Oleg Efremov, an outstanding teacher and an extraordinary personality. “He was so charming, believe me, he had a magical effect on everyone,” Alexander Kalyagin recalls about him.
We talked about contemporary theatre, directorial discoveries, and the different thinking of today’s directors. And then we went to the foyer to see an exhibition dedicated to Anatoly Efros, who would have turned 100 on July 3.
“A Month in the Country.” How Efros Staged Turgenev’s “Most Boring” Comedy“104 Pages About Love”. The History of the Legendary Performance by Anatoly Efros
Where is Godot anyway?
After the museum exhibition, Timofey Dunayev, an actor of the theater, gave a short excursion into history: “Et Cetera was founded in 1992 by graduates of the Moscow Art Theater School, course of Alexander Alexandrovich Kalyagin. On February 2, 1993, the first performance of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov’s play “Uncle Vanya” was performed with Vasily Lanovoy and Vladimir Simonov in the leading roles on the stage of the Pushkin Theater. And then we moved to the space on Novy Arbat (building 11), where, in fact, we settled for several years. And the construction of this building began here, on Myasnitskaya Street.”
Alexander Kalyagin worked on each stage of construction, participated directly in the development of the project, influencing the architecture of the building, as well as its interior and exterior content. The style is based on postmodernism, but in general, eclecticism – a mixture of different trends – dominates the philosophy of the theater, its interior and exterior. According to Timofey Dunayev, the repertoire also includes completely different performances both in form and meaning – from classical works like Boris Godunov directed by Peter Stein to more modern interpretations – Duck Hunt and Mandate by Vladimir Pankov, the current artistic director of the Moscow State Theater “Lenkom Mark Zakharov”.
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Classicism, baroque, rococo can be seen everywhere: in the decoration, stucco, design, including the entrance to the large hall. It amazes not only with its capacity (528 seats!), but also, first of all, with its inevitably eye-catching chairs. “They are absolutely unique,” comments Timofey Dunayev, “made at a Milan furniture factory specifically for the Et Cetera theater. There are 11 types of chairs, for which sketches were developed, reviewed, and personally approved by Alexander Alexandrovich. They imitate the types of chairs that stood in different auditoriums of famous theaters at different times: in the “Comédie Française,” “Palais Royal,” in London, Spain. Such is the mystery. That is, people enter the hall — and immediately there is a certain theatricality, a mystery.”
The mysteries don’t end there, however. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the right and left sides of the mezzanine are decorated in different styles, and the central box is offset to the right relative to the center (if you look at it from the stage). The same goes for the aisles – they’re quite unusual.
The hall itself seems to reproduce a quote from William Shakespeare’s play: “All the world’s a stage, and the women and the men all players; each with his own entrance and exit, and each playing more than one part.” In this way, Et Cetera invites the audience to play a little, to feel part of the magic that the actors, directors and technical team create for them. The effect is enhanced by the boxes, each of which is named after a certain dramatic character. “There is Tartuffe’s box from Moliere’s play of the same name. There is Mitrofanushka’s box – for us, this is “The Minor”. That is, when you buy a ticket, you do not have the right side, the third box, but, let’s say, Ariel’s box from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, ” explains Timofey Dunayev. And the central box is named after the hero of Samuel Beckett’s most famous play, whom all the other characters endlessly discuss, but he never appears. Tickets are not sold for it – it stands empty, waiting for Godot.
Et Cetera, Et Cetera, Et Cetera…
Having stopped by the Efrosovsky Hall on the way and admired the spiral staircase, we set off together with Dmitry Mozgov, deputy artistic director of the Moscow Et Cetera Theatre for creative issues, to another performance space. Chamber performances and poetry evenings are held in the small hall, a laboratory is held where young directors, playwrights, actors try to find a new language, to feel out a new aesthetic. “And sometimes we have very interesting discoveries on the small stages of our theatre,” Dmitry Mozgov shares.
The Et Cetera Theatre actively participates in the cultural life of Moscow and various city events: recently one of the performances was shown in Zaryadye Park, and the May “Night at the Museum” was also celebrated brightly. Creative evenings and meetings are held here, and any viewer, while studying the intricate decoration of the building, will be able to find something interesting: a unique chandelier (and not just one), a stage that is one of the three Moscow leaders in technical capabilities, luxurious backstage areas, temporary exhibitions and high-profile premieres. Alexander Kalyagin, the heart and soul of the theatre, is invisibly present everywhere, and sometimes he appears very obviously and not only on stage: here and there you can see life-size figures of the master, with whom viewers willingly take pictures.
On the first floor, where the museum is located, you can read the words of Alexander Alexandrovich, ornately written on a rectangular plaque: “Et Cetera in Latin – and so on, and so forth, and so forth… It seems to me a wonderful name for a theater. The essence of its aspirations is to unite different schools and different artists, in a word, et cetera…” This season is coming to an end, but there will certainly be a continuation in the next one – see you at the theater!
You can explore Et Cetera’s repertoire and purchase tickets atMos.ru.
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